NGO Friends of Villa Frere has warned that plans for a guesthouse in Pietà will "mutilate" a protected building and destroy the context of two others. The plans, which are currently awaiting Planning Authority approval, would transform a dilapidated townhouse on the Pietà seafront into a guesthouse with various garden terraces. The applicants are Pieta’ Estates Limited and Alan Galea is the architect. But those plans have drawn criticism from an NGO which was established to safeguard a historic building that neighbours the townhouse - Villa Frere. The historic villa, which has an extensive landscaped garden, was given the highest level of planning protection, Schedule 1, last year. In a letter to the director of planning at the PA dated 10 March, NGO Friends of Villa Frere said that the development is "completely disproportionate and incongruous with its highly sensitive surroundings." The NGO warned that the proposal would destroy the context of two Grade 1 properties which it neighbours - Villa Frere and Giardino Zamittello - and also "severely mutilate" a Grade 2 listed property (Nos.117 and 119), the fine High-Baroque villa designed by the capomaestro Antonio...